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The First Boat People.

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The First Boat People By Stephen Webb Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology 47, Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 13 978-0-521-85656-0 Pp. 318. Price UK75 [pounds sterling].

It is unusual for an author to abandon caution, to embrace eccentricity and write a book that aims to challenge well-established views in a scientific discipline. When such an aim is fulfilled this high risk strategy may be rewarding, to both the discipline and the author, but of course it is also unusual for a radically new approach to be successful in overturning the existing body of knowledge. Nevertheless, some researchers consistently select this kind of high risk, high reward, research design, revealing their all-or-nothing gambling predispositions. This is the position that Stephen Webb has adopted in his book The First Boat People, inviting the reader to accept his dissenting interpretation of the colonisation of Australia. His goal in reinterpreting the origin of prehistoric humans in Australia, and the age when they entered the continent, is nothing less than to refute recent-out-of-Africa models (yes, despite all the genetic evidence in their favour). This agenda is not explicit at the start of the book but unfolds as the reader ties together the disparate discussions presented throughout and Webb gradually introduces criticism of out-of-Africa ideas. Webb begins with questions focussing of the cognitive ability and demography of Homo erectus and the migration of people into Australia, topics that seem disparate but are in fact linked in Webb's work by multi-regional evolutionary models. He has chosen not to place his discussions in an explicit framework that describes models of human evolution and dispersion, a decision that deprives readers of much needed context about the perspective being presented and about contrary interpretations of the past. This decision is recursively reproduced throughout, as Webb frequently does not adequately explain alternate models or contradictory evidence. Perhaps he was concerned that providing context would reduce the focus on his particular arguments, but the partisan manner of his discussions merely has the effect of diminishing their value. On the other hand, perhaps this pattern is a consequence of challenging conventional views without enough evidence to convincingly overturn them. In either case it is an unfortunate characteristic. This, admittedly major, criticism aside the book still contains many interesting propositions which I will briefly comment on here, leaving detailed critiques to others.

The First Boat People is actually three loosely connected extended essays. The first is a speculation about the movement of pre-sapiens hominids out of Africa (Chapters 1, 2 and 3). A second essay offers conjectures about the arrival of hominids in Australia (Chapters 4 and 5). The third develops an interpretation of the biology of Pleistocene humans who lived in Australia (Chapters 6 and 7). Each of these multi-chapter essays is discrete, and I deal with them separately.

Webb's starting point is his consideration of the movement of Homo erectus from Africa. The focus on H. erectus reflects his view that...

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